I’m still here. I made it through. Right now my days are taken up with exercises. And more exercises. And physical therapy. Then turn around and do it all over again. Nolemana has been absolutely fantastic, helping me with almost everything.
I forgot I took so many photos in the hospital. Better living through chemistry, yeah?
Last Tuesday afternoon I had a pre-op appointment with my surgeon and his assistant, who’ll be in the OR with him. That made surgery seem really real. By the time we were pau with the appointment, traffic on I-205 would’ve been awful going home, so Nolemana and I decided to stay in Vancouver and have dinner at Patrick’s Hawaiian Cafe, my favorite local kine food restaurant. I figured that comfort food would help ease my way into surgery on Monday.
Ack! Two weeks from yesterday I’m going in for a partial knee replacement surgery. And I’m feeling kinda nervous about it. I’m glad I get to have a spinal instead of general anesthetic. I’m glad I have a fantastic surgeon and a great medical team. But I’m still kinda sked.
I’ve been working hard at the gym to strengthen my legs and knees. Cuz my left knee isn’t the greatest, either. No ACL in that one. It’s gonna need (kneed???) surgery, too. See what happens when you’re fifteen years old playing tackle football back home in Mānoa Valley and you get tackled by a kid twice your size? We didn’t wear protective any kine. Those were the olden days, right? Sheesh. Continue reading
Oh, I have the best of best intentions to write posts. And then life happens. I got bogged down during Tour de Fleece, so I’m gonna start up again with all dem photos.
At da coffee shop. Me spinning, and my friend from the My Knitting Has Cat Hair In It team was my cheerleader.
Yesterday I got some bad news, that my dear friend Carol, who’s been battling cancer since 2005, now had a metastasized tumor in her brain. I was stunned, upset, and very teary and emotional. I’d been spinning some mixed fiber, which was a real challenge for me. There are both long and short fibers in the roving, and I’d never spun anything like it before. After getting the news about Carol from her husband, I came home and tried to spin for solace. It wasn’t going well. I thought that maybe I even hated the spinning I’d done from this pretty bump of roving:
I’ve been so busy spinning and photographing and posting my progress to Ravelry, that my poor bloggie gets left in the dust!
So here’s more photos of what I’ve been doing. I finished spinning Beargrass from Raven Ridge Fiber Arts (my favorite indie dyer). I learned how to use an Andean plying tool from Gift of Grace Handspun, and Noelani supervised everything. The Andean plying tool is made from Curly Koa from Maui, and I love it so much.
…I’m scheduled for a partial knee replacement on September 10th. Scary, yeah? For the last year, my right knee, which is actually in better shape than my left one, has really been hurting bad. I had to give up spinning for awhile…horrors! Last year at Oregon Flock and Fiber I was hurting so bad I hardly saw anything at all. It was very disappointing, though it was wonderful being in that atmosphere. My primary care doctor gave me a cortisone shot, which took the edge off, but ultimately he referred me to an orthopedic surgeon… Continue reading
 | Mokihana on One Week Post-Op |
 | AFK on One Week Post-Op |
| Mokihana on One Week Post-Op |
 | Michelle on One Week Post-Op |
| AFK on Mokipuaʻa |
